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The Daily OrangeFB | After last year's disappointment, Dantley gets another shot at Pitt
By John Clayton
Posted: 9/25/08, 11:13 PM EST Section: Sports
"Everybody's 0-0," Dantley said. "Nobody's played each other in the conference yet. Everybody's pretty much starting at the same level in the spectrum."
That's one reason for optimism. Another is that Syracuse can breathe a bit easier after getting its first win of the season last Saturday against Northeastern. Dantley was 14-of-17 passing that game for 167 yards and a touchdown - playing a secondary role while the running game did the heavy lifting.
That's been the formula with Dantley so far. Let the running game do most of the work and rely on Dantley to hit easy check-down and roll-out patterns.
"He played well last week," Robinson said of his junior signal-caller. "He was very efficient. He did a good job running the ball a couple of times and he did a lot of things to keep it going."
Dantley will likely have to be even better against the Panthers, a grind-it-out team that relies on a strong running attack to control the ball. Syracuse will have to be efficient and take advantage of all the scoring opportunities it gets.
Dantley wasn't quite able to do that last year, but that doesn't mean he's lacking in confidence this time around.
"We feel like going into any game we can play with anybody," Dantley said. "The fact that it's been two close games the last two years with them, it shows it's going to be a good battle. It's going to be physical - we were physical with them last year and it went right down to the wire. So we know we're capable of playing with them."
jsclayto@syr.edu
That's one reason for optimism. Another is that Syracuse can breathe a bit easier after getting its first win of the season last Saturday against Northeastern. Dantley was 14-of-17 passing that game for 167 yards and a touchdown - playing a secondary role while the running game did the heavy lifting.
That's been the formula with Dantley so far. Let the running game do most of the work and rely on Dantley to hit easy check-down and roll-out patterns.
"He played well last week," Robinson said of his junior signal-caller. "He was very efficient. He did a good job running the ball a couple of times and he did a lot of things to keep it going."
Dantley will likely have to be even better against the Panthers, a grind-it-out team that relies on a strong running attack to control the ball. Syracuse will have to be efficient and take advantage of all the scoring opportunities it gets.
Dantley wasn't quite able to do that last year, but that doesn't mean he's lacking in confidence this time around.
"We feel like going into any game we can play with anybody," Dantley said. "The fact that it's been two close games the last two years with them, it shows it's going to be a good battle. It's going to be physical - we were physical with them last year and it went right down to the wire. So we know we're capable of playing with them."
jsclayto@syr.edu
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